


Fortune Cookie

by via_ostiense



Category: Ranma 1/2
Genre: Community: chain_of_fics, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-10-16
Updated: 2004-10-16
Packaged: 2017-10-15 17:28:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/163144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/via_ostiense/pseuds/via_ostiense
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>chain_of_fics prompt "Water inevitably flows to the sea!"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fortune Cookie

"Water inevitably flows to the sea!" Ranma crowed. He stood, a deranged look on his face, and shot out of the room.

"Can't you ever behave? We're eating dinner!" Akane shouted after him.

"Water inevitably flows to the sea!" A faint echo came back down the hallway.

"Wonder what's up with him?" Nabiki said.

"I don't know, do you?" Kasumi replied. "Perhaps he's not feeling well." The two sisters turned toward Akane. "Why don't you go find out what's wrong with Ranma-kun?"

"What? Why me?" Akane snarled. Stupid Ranma. Why'd he have to run off and interrupt her dinner, too? It was takeout from her favorite Chinese restaurant tonight, no less.

"He's your fiance!" the elder sisters chorused.

Sighing, Akane got up and stomped off to the room that Ranma shared with his father.

"You! What are you up to now, moron?" Akane shouted, without really looking into Ranma's room. A shirt hit her in the face. Spluttering, she tossed it aside and saw that Ranma was madly packing his bags, as if he were getting ready for another trip away.

"Water inevitably flows to the sea!" He tossed over his shoulder, not looking back.

"So?"

"That means the water from the Spring of the Drowned Man must flow to the sea somehow. I'm going back to China to find the sea it flows into." He shouldered his pack and stood, with a determined look on his face. Akane recognized that look - it was the insane, hopeful, and pig-headed look that all of their shapechanging friends wore when they heard crazy rumors of remedies.

"Ranma, the spring's dried up. You blocked it." She stood in the doorway, facing him.

He deflated momentarily, but his hope was not to be denied, and he shook his head. "Akane, step aside. I'm going to China and when I return, I will return as a man!"

"Ranma, the spring's dried up. It's not flowing anywhere because it doesn't exist anymore." Akane hated to remind him because he'd done it for her sake, locked up the source of the spring in order to rescue her, and every time she thought about it, guilt twisted her gut and she wondered why he didn't hate her.

"But," Ranma began.

"It's not there anymore, Ranma." She turned away, unwilling to face him. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry." A hand touched her shoulder, and she turned around to see that he'd dropped his pack and was standing in front of her.

"Don't feel guilty, Akane. It's not your fault." He gently touched her cheek and gazed straight into her eyes, and she could almost see him willing her to believe his words. "I guess you're right, then. About the spring."

'Yeah. I'm sorry. Maybe there's some other way," she said, looking down. She didn't want to meet his eyes, she didn't deserve his forgiveness.

"Yeah, maybe."

"What made you think of this, anyway? About finding the spring's water in the sea?" she asked, pulling away and trying to establish some distance from him.

"It was in my fortune cookie."


End file.
